5 Zoos you should visit in the Northeast

Editor’s Note: We are proud to include our youngest writer, Harrison Turner, who has a passion for animals. Check out his bio below. Thanks for this outstanding review, we have a few more zoos to visit this Fall thanks to you!

Zoos are among the most popular attractions in the country. We would like

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5 Favorite Places to Splash and Ride the Water Slides in NJ & PA

We love our water parks, and wanted to share a few of the ones we have highlighted over the years. Â Here is just a sampling.

Dutch Wonderland Trip- Click pic for our complete review

Lancaster PA Getaway- Dutch Wonderland/Doubletree Resorts

– We went back in 2010 and had a wonderful time in

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Tomahawk Lake, Sparta NJ

Tomahawk Lake is located on 155 Tomahawk Trail Sparta, NJ 07871 .  We got the chance to visit last minute last Friday on a hot August summer day, and Lynne from Tomahawk took the time to share with us all the cool highlights.  This place is a low key lake area that has

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Dutch Springs, Bethlehem PA

We visited Dutch Springs in Bethlehem PA because my son had such a great time with his camp.

Address:Â 4733 Hanoverville Rd, Bethlehem, PA 18020-9479 Phone Number: 16107592270

It is basically a 50ft. quarry, and the water is perfect for a really hot summer day. Â Not much shade, so we were jealous of the

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Fosterfields Farm in Morristown NJ

Since 2008 we’ve scoured NJ for playgrounds and places to bring the kids to have fun, Fosterfields Living Historical Farm has been in our list for quite some time, but we just never got a chance to go.

Well, finally the day had come, I took my 11y, 9y and 7y to this Morris

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July 6 2016 Movies In the Park in NJ

Watching a movie in the park is a great family outing, and tonight we have the listing for Family friendly movies in NJ parks:

StoneHarbor Elementary School at 8PM- Goosebumps will be playing 7/6/2016

Casablanca- Come to Van Vorst Park, 257 Montgomery St, Jersey City

Come to the park Wednesday evenings this summer. Bring a

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NJ Spraygrounds & Splash Pads by County 2016

Since 2008 we’ve been on the hunt for the greatest places to play that are free in NJ, for this summer 2016, we have our NJ sprayground list for 2016 for Northern NJ.  Searching for wading pools, fountains, splash pads, spraygrounds? Check out our latest list. We are still updating, but wanted to share

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Raptor Trust, Millington NJ

Editor’s Note: Spring has Sprung, and we have started visiting unique places around NJ again, if you have a new place you would like us to cover, comment on our Facebook Page here! Want to get in on our latest newsletter? Click here to subscribe!-Sheila Today we visit the Raptor Trust, a place that has

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Splashplex, East Hanover, NJ

Thanks to Kim, from the Funplex, for inviting us to review the new and improved Splashplex. Â We appreciated the free tickets. It was so fun, and we really enjoyed it.

The Splashplex is located in East Hanover, NJ at 182 Route 10 West. Their main phone is 973-428-1166. You’ll find them next to Bed

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Diggerland, West Berlin NJ

Greetings friends! Today our friends, Ned and Sue share with us their trip to Diggerland. We’ve not been here cause from many of the cute pictures we had seen, it appeared to us more for the little kids, OR SO WE THOUGHT! Very cool to hear that there is great fun for 48″ and over.

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Kalahari Resorts, Poconos PA

Kalahari Resorts, Poconos PA

Hi Readers! Long time no write. Gotta say, our Kalahari trip was so much fun! We recently went to Kalahari Resorts ona Groupon with 5 other families.

Hotel Check In

The day you check in, you can start using the water park at noon. They will email or text you when

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Presby Iris Gardens, Montclair NJ

The Presby Memorial Iris Gardens are located on 474 Upper Mountain Ave, Montclair, NJ 07043.

My good friend Charlene invited me to go, and it was a beautiful tranquil experience. Although it’s not your playground destination, the flowers are beautiful, and downtown Montclair is walking distance away.

From Presby Iris Gardens website– “UPDATE 2016: May

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Silas Condict Park, Kinnelon NJ

Editor’s Note: Ahhhhh summer picnics, get togethers, etc. Although this park has NO PLAYGROUND, it is a beautiful scenic place for a low key get together, featuring great picnic areas with shelters. Although the pedal boats are not operating regularly, you may catch them on a day they have a group reservation that will use

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Great Adventure’s Safari Tour, Jackson NJ

Editor’s Note: Thanks to our good friends, The Moraghans, we have a great guest post about the Safari at Great Adventure.

If you have a unique day trip please shoot me an email at roving@njplaygrounds.com – Enjoy the spring weather!!! – Sheila

With my youngest daughter Colleen recently hitting the 4ft mark, I thought

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Favorite NJ park to exercise, bike, walk, jog or hike?

We asked and you answered! We took a poll from our facebook fans on what are people’s favorite NJ park to visit (with kids) for hiking, biking, running or exercising. What a BIG response to this question, we knew a few favorites would come up but then there were a few new ones, we

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Woodbridge Community Center, Woodbridge, NJ

Editor’s Note: Hi NJ friends, today’s visit is to the Woodbridge Community Center aka “The Arenas at Woodbridge” Â where we were surprised to see so much going on! Â Want to thank Jane, Pam and Noelle from the Woodbridge Rec department! Â Our kids had a great time mini-golfing and attempting to roller skate

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The Great Divide Campground, Newton NJ

Editor’s Note:

First of all, wanted to say hi, and hope you all are having a wonderful summer. Our family has been very busy and has focused on my parents’ big move to our town. Now that things are getting settled, we are happy to focus on outdoor attractions and playgrounds again!!! Jan Hudson

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Fan sound off: Camping in NJ, best places for families

Hi guys! We love it when a topic gets some responses from our fans in facebook land. Last week, we had a request from Deborah M. about the best place to take kids camping, and we received some great responses, so we thought we’d do a round up with some additional details!

NJ State Parks

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Turtle Back Zoo, West Orange NJ

Update #2- 3/29/2016- Lots going on at TBZ. The giraffes are here, but not visible to the public yet.  Saw some massive construction going on.  Some changes since 2013 including removal of digger at playground, and no water & pebbles at  table noted below.

Turtle Back Zoo Dining/Cafeteria area is

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Wild West City, Netcong NJ

Editor’s Note: Throughout the summer we will be visiting some favorite NJ outdoor attractions. For this special post, Amy visited Wild West City and shares her trip with us. If you have a special outdoor attraction you would like us to feature, comment on our Facebook Page!

Wild West City, Netcong

50 Lackawanna Drive ·

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Duke Farms, Hillsborough NJ

Editor’s Note: Wow! Thanks to Katie Groel for this wonderful farm post. This sounds like a great place to visit, and bike! Duke Farms in Hillsborough is open to the public with miles and miles of hiking and biking trails. There is no playground equipment just wide open space and beautiful scenery. Since there is

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Field Station: Dinosaurs

Who out there loves DINOSAURS? Heck, who doesn’t love them???? And whoever thought you’d find some live ones right here in the Garden State!

Sheila and I (with 6 kids between us!) had the great pleasure of visiting the new Field Station: Dinosaurs. It officially opens Saturday May 26th, 2012. This amazing new dinosaur park

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Maple Sugaring 2014 and A special look at Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center, Chatham NJ

2014 UPDATE:

Snowy days have not been great on my updating timeliness! Â Want to know where the latest maple sugaring events are happening what’s left of February 2014 and March? Here are a few links to some great nature/environmental centers:

Bergen county:

Tenafly Nature Center Maple Sugaring- LINK here to register ($5/Member $10/Non-members (Children

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Essex Environmental Center- Roseland, NJ

Essex Environmental Center is located on 621 Eagle Rock Avenue, Roseland, NJ.

From their website: ” The Essex County Environmental Center is located in the western section of Essex County at West Essex Park. West Essex Park is 1,360 acres of wetlands preserve which remains almost entirely undeveloped. It stretches along six miles of the

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Asbury Splash Park

This guest post is from Stacey Frielander who just visited this summer hot spot in Asbury Park, which isn’t too far from the North Jersey population (Garden State Parkway Exit 102). I love this for combining a beach day with some splash fun! Also on the next street is a mini-golf course, for more details

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Essex County Safari Mini Golf, West Orange NJ

As big fans of Turtle Back Zoo, we were pleased to receive a special invitation to try out the newest mini golf course in our area from Essex County. Safari Minigolf was a fun outing for all my kids, ages 6, 4 and 2.

I’ve learned that with my young kids, score-keeping was out

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Space Farms, Sussex, NJ

Space Farms is located on 218 Route 519, Sussex, NJ. 07461 . We met up with some good friends from Flanders at Space Farms for a low-key day, no rides, no lines, just see some animals and explore. This place is huge, (over 500 animals (100 species) and you’ll definitely

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Dutch Wonderland Review, Lancaster, PA and Willow Valley Resort

Dutch Wonderland is located on 2249 Lincoln Highway East, Lancaster, PA.

***Special vacation report***

So after the overwhelming response on our facebook fan page on where we should go on vacation, we listened, and went to beautiful Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. We were not disappointed, here’s our review:

Accomodations at Doubletree Resort (Willow Valley

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NJ Water Parks Price Summary

Hurricane Harbor Photo by Leora (http://www.leoraw.com/blog)

Update 8/26/2009-Â Take a look at some great reviews of waterparks to look at after you see pricing spreadsheet below, pricing isn’t everything and these mom blog posts, may help you make the decision:

Sesame Place– A link to a review posted by a Mom in

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Land of Make Believe, Hope, NJ *guest post*

This guest post about Land of Make Believe and Pirate’s Cove (and our first Amusement Park entry) has convinced me I have to go. I absolutely know for certain now that my kids will love it!!! Thanks to my extremely brilliant friend and mother Sue M. for taking the time to get great pictures and

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